• Question: how many different cells are there in the human body?

    Asked by eggse to Antoine, Daniel, James, Julie, Saima on 13 Nov 2013. This question was also asked by chlochlobiebs1611.
    • Photo: James Hickey

      James Hickey answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      Hi eggse! Cool question.

      The latest study estimates the number of cells in the average adult body to be 37.2 trillion. That’s 37,200,000,000,000! Quite a lot…

      But this is by no means an exact number, just a scientific estimate calculated by breaking the body into different organs or cell types and then adding them all back up. For example, each person has an average 50 billion fat cells and 2 billion heart muscle cells.

      I think the coolest thing is that all of these 37.2 trillion cells work together in a way that creates a living, breathing, functioning human being.

    • Photo: Saima Rehman

      Saima Rehman answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      Hello eggse, thanks for this Question.
      There are 200 different type of cells present in your body, and these 200 types of cells are further divided in to 20 different type based on their structures. For example, skin cell, or bone cell.
      Similar type of cells work together to perform similar jobs. And this is really amazing that they are well-suited to perform their job due to their specific shape and structure. For example, brain cells are the longest one, because they have to convey messages from one part of your body to brain.

      So, similar cells join together to make an “organ” , for example brain. Organs work together to make a “system” in your body, for example “nervous system” (due to this system, you are reading, typing and thinking, may be smiling…at the same time). And that’s how your your body works in an efficient way.

    • Photo: Daniel Patten

      Daniel Patten answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Hi eggse,

      I think your question has been answered pretty well above, but just thought I’d add that the human body is also host to huge number of bacteria too, in fact, there are 10-times more bacterial cells in and on the body than actual human cells! So, technically, you are more bacteria than human! Weird eh?

    • Photo: Julie Speakman

      Julie Speakman answered on 16 Nov 2013:

      Eggse, think the other have answered this….Thanks James, Saima and Daniel!

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